Slow start costs Leafs against Kings

The Maple Leafs got off to a horrendous start at Staples Center on Thursday night, and the result was reflected on the scoreboard. Toronto surrendered the first five goals of the game en route to a 5-3 loss.

Costly turnovers were the Leafs’ undoing. Jake Gardiner and Nazem Kadri were particularly guilty on Los Angeles’s first two goals, respectively. Goaltender Curtis McElhinney took the loss between the pipes.

“In the end, you lose by two and you can’t turn pucks over. I thought the first eight minutes we weren’t as good as we should have been and then I thought we did lots of good things,” coach Mike Babcock said to reporters after the game.